Egg & Mayonnaise grilled sandwich

Egg Mayo sandwich is a super tasty creamy sandwich. Perfect for your breakfast or tea time snack or even for your kids tiffin or to carry for picnic. Few ingredients, very easy to prepare & assemble specially if you are working and have less time in hand to prepare an elaborate breakfast or perfect for days when you feel lazy to cook. I like grilled ones , else you can make it as cold sandwich or tava ones. Also I used brown bread as we prefer that only at home. You can always use white bread.


The below measurements are for one head. You have to increase the quantities as per your servings.

Ingredients:

Brown Bread: 3 slices
Butter: about 1 1/2 tsp to apply on the slices
Mayonnaise: 3 tbsp.
Hard boiled egg: 1 large
Capsicum: About 2 tbsp. finely chopped
Spring onion greens: 1 string finely chopped (I did not use, I forgot it was in my refrigerator only)
Yellow mustard sauce: 1 tsp (I didn't use but do add, it enhances the taste)
Salt to taste
Black pepper powder: few pinches
Few drops of oil while grilling

Assembling:

Peel the egg & take out the egg yolk in a mixing bowl. Add the mayo and mix it very well.

Chop the white part of the egg and add to the mayo mixture along with the chopped capsicum. Add salt and pepper and combine everything well. (Add mustard sauce & spring onion greens at this stage only if you are using).

 

Take the bread slices and apply butter on each. You can omit the butter if you want.

Now spread the egg mayo mixture on one slice , cover with another slice with the buttered side down. Now again spread some of the mixture on the top of that slice and cover with remaining slice with the buttered side down.

Heat the grill pan and smear some oil. Now grill the sandwich till you get the dark grilled marks on both sides of the sandwich.

Put the flame off and transfer the sandwich to your chopping board and cut diagonally or in whichever shape you want to.

 

Stir-fried Noodles or chowmein - a street food we sooo love

My street food love continues .... And its Chowmein or stir fried noodles  this time. I love the way chowmein is prepared , high heat with continuous stirring. Aroma & the sound that comes from frying this in high flame is what enchants me. As I was sitting and thinking what to cook for my kid to eat after she is back from school today I found one noodles packet in the pantry and refrigerator too is loaded with all the required veggies. So there was no waiting and I just made it instantly. One thing about this dish is that I can add as much vegetables I want to feed the little one as she mostly eats it happily with the noodle and can be made with less oil at home other than the oily street food style. Here is how I make my noodles.

I have read somewhere that there is a difference between chowmein & hakka noodles, which is their style of cooking. Hakka noodles are toss-fried whereas Chowmein is a stir-fried noodle dish. But they both are called and understood as the same by many people in India and the rest of the world. 

Ingredients:

Hakka Noodles: 1 pkt - 150gms
Spring onions with the green parts: 2 thinly sliced
Carrot: 1 julienned
Green capsicum: half of 1 julienned
Green chillies: 1 or 2 cut into halves (optional, I did not use)
Soya sauce: 1 tbsp.
Chilli sauce: 1 tsp
Vinegar: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for frying and few drops while cooking the noodles in water


Method:
Half cook the noodles with sufficient water with some salt and a few drops of oil to avoid sticking. You do not need to cook the noodle completely. This will give you a nice crunch while eating.

Once done strain the noodles in a strainer and keep it under running tape water and with your clean hands separate the noodles.

In a mixing bowl, add soya sauce, chilli sauce, vinegar and mix well. You can also add tomato ketchup. Now add the noodles and mix the noodles with the sauce with your clean hands. This will help in coating the noodles with the sauce evenly. Keep aside.

 

You can use other veggies too like beans, cabbage etc.

Now heat 1tbsp oil a wok or pan. Oil needs to be really hot. Add the veggies and stir fry them in high flame , add salt (do keep in mind about the quantity as we have already added salt while cooking the noodle). Stir fry them until the vegetables are half cooked.

Add the noodles , stir continuously again in high flame for about a minute or two.

Once everything coats the noodles put the flame off.

Transfer the noodles to a serving dish or bowl and serve hot.

 

Chicken Roll

My all time favourite chicken roll be as a snack or dinner or lunch ! I so clearly remember when we use to indulge into these street foods during our college days. Whenever we go to the market it has to be our evening snack. I liked it having from those street side stalls only and never ever tried to make it at home. After we shifted to Bombay from Kolkata I could not find the type of roll I use to have in Assam or in Delhi/Kolkata. Only thing I got to eat is Frankie everywhere with lots of masala inside and very oily & juicy, which was not my kind of a roll. Two and half years spent and I hardly had this Frankie for twice or thrice. This year's monsoon started and I craved for my yummy chicken roll. Did not think of going anywhere to search for it and decided to make it at home. And I nailed it at the first attempt..exactly the way I like it. Now my girl wants it in her tiffin once in a week at least. PB too loves it this way only ..lot of chicken & vegetables , less oil, minimum masala and not at all juicy.
Enjoy this hot crisp chicken roll with your evening hot cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

Flour/Maida: 2 cups
Chicken  (boneless): 1 cup cooked (I pressure cooked with two whistles and sliced them)
Vegetables: 1/3 cup (I used capsicum, carrot, cabbage - julienned)
Onion: 1 large sized thinly sliced (divide the sliced onion into two portions)
Green chilli: add as per your taste - I didn't use
Coriander powder: 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder: a pinch or two
Tomato ketchup as much as you require to spread over the roti
Lime juice 1 tbsp
Oil "
Chat masala for garnishing
Finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Luke warm water to make the dough


Method:

Make a soft dough with flour, salt, 1 tsp refined oil and required quantity of water. Keep it covered to rest for about 10 minutes or so.

In a pan heat 1 tbsp oil and stir fry one part of onion and vegetables. Add salt, coriander powder & chilli powder and cook in high flame for about a minute or so. Now add the chicken and mix everything well and fry till the chicken pieces gets a brownish colour. Remove from flame.


Make equal medium sized balls from the dough. Roll each ball to flat round (roti) with the rolling pin.

Heat a tawa/griddle, add little bit of oil and cook the roti. Once you are done with making the rotis, take one by one and spread tomato ketchup/chilli sauce or any green chutney of your choice on one side of the roti. Now place the veggie and chicken mix in one corner of the roti and sprinkle some chat masala, lime juice, coriander leaves & sliced onion (which we had kept aside in the beginning) and roll the roti. Take a sheet of aluminium foil to cover the roll from one end. You can use toothpick also and insert it through the roll for binding it. Repeat the same with all the rotis.

Now serve this yummy chicken roll hot and enjoy with your favourite hot cuppa.

 

Prawn Fried rice

It was weekend and had to make something nice for dinner. Weekend outing and lot of sea fish shopping :) ..Basa , surmai & prawn. I wanted to cook goan prawn curry but the ingredients seemed to be unavailable & hence dropped the idea. Also PB said not to make any dal or curry. Instant dish came to my mind - lets have prawn fried rice with surmai fry. It came out to be tasty juicy and full of flavour. Here is the recipe for you.. Sorry  I could not take the stepwise pictures this time as I was in a hurry preparing the same after getting home late. Shall update as and when I cook it again.


Ingredients:

Prawn: 250gms (cleaned, washed. Make sure you soak the water after washing them)
Basmati Rice: 1 cup (washed & cooked)
Spring onion: 2 (sliced)
Garlic: 5-6 cloves grated
Carrot: 1 cut into juliennes (you can use other vegetables as well e.g. beans/capsicum)
Green chilli: 1-2 (optional)
Soya sauce: 2 tsp
Vinegar: 1 tsp
Chilli sauce: 1-2 tsp
MSG (ajinomoto): a pinch (avoid if you don't want to use)
Salt to taste
Oil: 2 tbsp.



Method:

If you pressure cook the rice, take it out to a bowl or dish & spread with a spatula/spoon once the cooker releases the pressure on its own. This will prevent the rice from sticking to each other.


Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Fry the spring onions & garlic together till translucent. Add the prawns and fry till they turn into light brown colour. If the prawn releases water, fry them till it dries up. Now add the chilli and vegetable. Fry in high heat stirring continuously for a minute or 2. You don't need the veggies to get cooked completely. Time to add the ajinomoto, salt, cooked rice and then the sauces ,in no particular order. Mix everything well , again in high heat and stir continuously. This would take you about 2-3 minutes or so. Put the flame off and transfer it to a serving dish/bowl.

At this stage you can sprinkle some more chopped green part of the spring onion and also sprinkle some scrambled egg. This will give you a nice crunchiness in every bite of this yummy prawn fried rice.

 

Shahi chicken or shahi murg

Shahi chicken/murg a mildly spiced creamy gravy with the richness of cashew & almond. This particular chicken preparation is different from the regular chicken curry and taste a bit sweet and sour. If you want a variety in your chicken dishes from the regular spicy ones then this will a be wonderful choice for you. You will see a variety of recipes for shahi murg if you search for it. I often make shahi paneer/nawabi paneer at home which we all like very much but never thought of preparing chicken this way. As its weekend and we always like to have something special and this weekend I had less time as I am a bit busy with little girl's exams. So I  thought of not cooking the same chicken butter masala or regular chicken curry and decided to cook shahi chicken with some tawa roti & pulao. I quickly took out my shahi paneer recipe from my blog and started preparing for the same.

Once I tasted the chicken I was just wondering why I didn't think of doing this before. It looked superb, tasted very nice with the aroma of whole garam masala, the rich nutty flavour & the creaminess. Do try this dish in your kitchen and if you do , share your feedback.




Ingredients:

Chicken: 1 kg
Onion: 2medium sized
Ginger: 1 medium sized
Garlic: 5-6 pods
Green chilli: 1 or 2
Cardamom: 4-5
Cinnamon: 2 sticks
Cloves: 3-4
Bay leaves: 2-3
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Curd: 2-3 tbsp
Ghee: 2 tbsp.
Milk: 1 or 2  tbsp.
Fresh cream: 1-2 tbsp. (optional)


Dry Ingredients:
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder: 1 tsp
Garam Masala powder: 1 tsp
Kasoori methi: 1 tsp (I didn't use it as was not available)
Salt to taste


To soak & grind: soak for about half an hour
Almonds: 12-14
Cashew: 12
Poppy seeds: 1 tbsp.
Melon seeds: 1 tbsp
Raisins: about a handful.


Water as required.

Method:

Clean and wash the chicken. Keep aside.

Cut the onions and make a paste with ginger, garlic and one green chilli .

Now make a smooth paste with the ingredients mentioned under to soak & grind with milk and some water. Do not forget to peel off the skin of almonds after soaking it for about half an hour.

Heat ghee in a kadhai/pan. Add cumin seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and allow to splutter. Add onion ginger garlic chilli paste and fry till it turns slightly brown. Add the masalas mentioned under "Dry ingredients" except garam masala. Fry them for a minute or two.

Now add the chicken and break the remaining chilli & throw into it. Mix everything well and cover with lid in low flame.

Slow Cook the chicken for about 10-15 minutes, checking and stirring in between. Now add the curd and pour in the almond-cashew paste, add the garam masala .

 

Give it a nice mix. Cover with lid keeping the flame low to medium. Keep checking in between and add half cup of water , stir and again cover and let it cook. After some time when you see the gravy thickening put the flame off. Add the cream and stir once.

Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with coriander leaves & some almond flakes (optional). Serve hot with rice /roti.